Fresh & Easy to acquire two suppliers

El Segundo, Calif. The Tesco-owned Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market said Tuesday it will acquire the California operations of two of its fresh-product suppliers that had come over from the United Kingdom, according to a report by Supermarket News.

The suppliers, 2 Sisters and Wild Rocket Foods, both have operations near the grocer’s distribution center in Riverside, Calif. 2 Sisters purchases meat, fish and poultry, and Wild Rocket purchases produce for the Fresh & Easy warehouse.

The grocery retailer told Supermarket News that it will retain all 750 employees of the two operations.

The acquisitions will help the chain better serve its expanding Kitchen operation of prepared foods, Brendan Wonnacott, the Fresh & Easy spokesman, told the publication. “We are expanding our Kitchen concept after sales have exceeded all targets despite having fewer stores than we originally planned,” he said. The moves will also help launch a global sourcing hub in California for acquiring product from California to supply Tesco’s far-flung operations, Wonnacott said.

Terms of the acquisitions were not disclosed.